Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

[Xan03]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

I have a little selection of old AT and ATX PSUs around that I'll try to post here over time, some of them I intermittently use with vintage hardware. I'll start with this Astec AT unit from early 1995.




All Japanese electrolytics, which is kind of rare for a PC PSU of the time from all I've seen, so that's good... but wait, what are those yellow things on the input?




Yep, it's those RIFA Y-caps, and they sure are cracked - an apparently quite well-known issue that I've coincidentally recently learned about. I've seen on pics how those can fail so guess I'll be looking into replacing them sometime, as this is one unit that does see some use. I suspect Astec stopped using them very shortly after this unit was built.

Electrolytic caps as far as I could identify:

2x Nichicon LQ 470uF/200V
NCC SME 47uF/25V, probably 2x
2x Nichicon PF 2200uF/16V
Nichicon PF 1500uF/10V
Nichicon PF 220uF/10V
one unidentified Nichicon PF.

I'm aware the caps do fall under the quaternary ammonium salt category, though so far there is no visible leakage.

[Dan81]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Looking at that form factor, I think it's TFX as I might have a similar 250W unit (except it actually says FSP on it.) out of a NEC unit that had a burnt mobo.

[momaka]

TRUMPower FSP300-60LG [P/N: TIPC-300FLX-UT]

With presidential elections right around the corner, today’s PSU post is going to be themed around that. More specifically, if our current president (Mr. Trump) could name his own brand of ATX power supplies, what do you think he’d choose?
.
.
If you guessed TRUMPower, you’d be right. GO MURICA!!!


No, that label is not a photoshop joke. This is a real legit power supply. And if the FSP300-LG in the model number is to hint at something, it’s that it is made by FSP. Moreover, those two specific stickers below the label (“Ball Bearing Fan” and “Active PFC”) are another tell-tale that this is an FSP/Sparkle unit, in case anyone didn’t look up the UL number already (E190414).

As for the PSU itself, this is it:


It’s one of those small (ITX?) form factor PSUs. It came from a mini server blade/computer from my previous job. There was just no way to check the PSU at the time and place where the server was, and we were swapping parts desperately to get up the server running as quick as possible again. So to eliminate as many components as possible from being troublesome again, the PSU was swapped on the spot. No one wanted to do anything with the old PSU (the one pictured here), so it was destined for recycling… until I intercepted.

As you can see, there isn’t much to the TRUMPower FPS300-60LG it in terms of cabling: only a 20-pin ATX connector, 4-pin 12V CPU power connector, a single Molex, and a floppy/berg - all 20-AWG size wires too, except the three 3.3V wires on the main 20-pin ATX connector (those are 18-AWG.) That’s it! Not sure why a 300 Watt PSU would have so few connections, but I suspect it was a custom order from FSP specifically designed for the blades we were using, because those are all of the connections they really need.

Moving onto the insides of the PSU… I can’t really show pictures of the primary and the secondary separately, like I usually do. It’s just way too cramped in there. Have a look:




This PSU is almost like a laptop power adapter, except a little more powerful (rated for 300 Watts.) I’m not sure at what temperature that is, though. A slightly older FSP from the older blades we had at work, was pretty much the same identical unit as this one (though, with more output connectors), yet only rated at 270 Watts (@ 40°C) / 300W @ 25°C ambient operation. So I can probably assume the same applies for this TRUMPower unit as well.

In any case, the power per unit volume of this PSU is still pretty amazing. Moreover, the PSU does actually work fine - I tested it eventually. That shouldn’t be too surprising, though, given the good quality components inside. In fact, note that all of the capacitors are Japanese brands (mostly United Chemicon and Rubycon from what I see.) Even the primary cap is Japanese (United Chemicon KMR), which is good to see in a PSU with APFC. And to show that FSP isn’t joking, they used a 450V -rated cap here.

On that note, in order to get this kind of high power output with good efficiency, the TRUMPower PSU uses a monorail output design - i.e. main PS produces only a 12V DC output (through two 60 Amp Schottky rectifiers?) The 3.3V and 5V rails are generated each by its own buck converter from the 12V rail. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails use polymer caps for their filters (Fujitsu FPCAP, IIRC.)

And that more or less sums it up about this PSU. Everything that needs to be there is there. See below for a slightly more detailed parts list.

Input EMI/RFI filter: two X2-class caps, four Y2-class caps, two CM chokes
Input Protection: 8 Amp or 10 Amp fuse; SCK 1R55 NTC thermistor; 1x MOV
Input wiring: 20-AWG, 300V
APFC: 1x 11N60NT(?) MOSFET + 1x STTH8R06FP diode
Input cap: Nippon Chemicon KMR series, 450V, 270 uF, 30x22 mm (dia. x h.)
Main PS: 2x FCPF 11N60 MOSFETs (2-transistor forward design), driven by a CM6800(?) IC
ICs: TNY260PN (5VSB), CM6800 (APFC + main PS), APW7159 (3.3V & 5V buck driver IC), and not sure about protection IC, because I can’t see where it is buried in there.
Transformers: 29 mm core for main PS and 19 mm core for 5VSB
Cooling fan: Protechnic Electric 40 x 40 x 15 mm
Output Rectifiers: two 60A60 (in parallel??) for the 12V rail, can't read info on anything else, though.

Output caps:
1x Rubycon ZLH, 16V, 2200 uF, 10 mm dia. (for 5VSB?)
2x Rubycon ZLH, 16V, 1000 uF, 8 mm dia. (for 12V rail?)
1x United Chemicon KY, 16V, 1000 uF, 8 mm dia. (for??)
1x United Chemicon KZH, 10V, 1000 uF, 8 mm dia. (for 5VSB?)
1x UCC PSF polymer, 16V, 470 uF, 8 mm dia. + 3x other polies (can’t read info, but they look like Fujitsu FPCAPs??)

And that’s all Mr. Trump packed in this one.
Now if only our current politics looked this clean and tidy as this PSU…

[TechGeek]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

I give it roughly 6 months before the main filter expires. I'm also going to guess that when it does, it's going to fail shorted before you can unplug it and trip a breaker or blow a fuse, and it might take out the bridge rectifier in the process.

[momaka]

Jewel JS-12030-2E power adapter, take TWO

Remember this Jewel JS-12030-2E power adapter??

That CapXon KF may test okay for now but who knows how long it’s going to last, especially since it’s 12 years old now going by the datecode. CrapXon are still replace-on-sight for me, always have been and always will be.

Proper foreshadowing there!

After maybe about 1 year of occasional use, I plugged this power adapter one day and heard a sizzling / hissing noise and misty smoke pour out of it. I hadn't closed the case, of course, so taking it apart was as simple as pulling the top cover off… which revealed this:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1602447954


Mmmmm… freshly-bulged/leaked CapXon KF. What a delightful smell!
You can also see droplets of electrolyte on the top shell in the upper-left corner – again, courtesy of that CapXon KF, 16V, 1000 uF cap on the output.

I desoldered the CapXon KF cap and did a few checks on the power adapter to make sure nothing else went bad. Everything checked out okay, so I gave it a more proper recap this time:


Basically, I moved the Elite EB, 16V, 1000 uF cap on the spot after the PI coil (where the freshly-bulged CapXon KF was just sitting) and installed a new Rubycon YXJ, 16V, 1000 uF cap in the spot before the PI coil. While at it, I also changed the startup cap (50V, 22 uF) with a Nichicon PW (or PM or PS - I can’t remember which) that I now had in stock.

After this, I plugged the adapter in and checked it with and without a load once again. Output voltage was good in both cases, so we’re back in business with this one.

The only CapXon cap left now is the primary input one. But I don’t have any 400V caps in stock in that size, so it’s going to have to wait. As such, I won’t bother with gluing / sealing the top cover again, because I have a hunch even that input CapXon KM cap will fail, despite primary-connected caps usually not failing that often - at least on SMPS without APFC. But this is CapXon, after all, so one can never know.

Anyone wanna hazard a guess when I’ll be posting back about this adapter once again to report the primary CapXon cap failing? Feel free to cue your votes below.

Oh, and what’s very ironic is I used this adapter quite often with my ESR / bad cap meter. So my cap meter’s power adapter had a bad cap. Imagine that.

[RukyCon]

Re: ISO Model: ISO-400 350w PSU

Laziness/procrastination, I can understand.
But making a fool of yourself? I mean, you're just posting about a PSU. Have no worries!

I tend to make super obvious mistakes if i'm left here for too long, something that a lot of people here must have seen first hand at some point, i try my best for it not to happen, but it still happens a lot.

Should be 35, as the sizes are more or less standard (28, 33, 35, 40, and etc.) Not that this is the only important parameter. Height matters as well. You can have a supposedly ERL35 traffo. But if it's very short, that means less core material and less space for windings as well, which can translate to a hotter-running traffo.

But the one in this ISO looks normal.

I wasn't too familiar with the transformer sizing and the different sizes, so i didn't know if ERL36 was a size.

With the size of those primary caps and output toroid... eh, probably not. With 470 uF, 200V input caps, I'd say the limit is closer to 250-300 Watts tops. The output toroid seems kind of small too, so it probably won't allow for more either. If these two were bigger, the 13009 BJTs on the primary should allow it to do 350 Watts continuous and maybe 400W peak for short periods of time (under a minute.)

I could at the very least put bigger caps on the primary side to improve hold up time, but thats assuming i have a use for it, which at the moment, i do not.

[momaka]

Re: ISO Model: ISO-400 350w PSU

Hello, I've been wanting to show this PSU for a while, but have not due to a mix of laziness and fear that i would once again make a fool of myself.

Laziness/procrastination, I can understand.
But making a fool of yourself? I mean, you're just posting about a PSU. Have no worries!

The main transformer's size is 36.5mm wide by 45mm tall (i'm guessing this makes it an ERL36).

Should be 35, as the sizes are more or less standard (28, 33, 35, 40, and etc.) Not that this is the only important parameter. Height matters as well. You can have a supposedly ERL35 traffo. But if it's very short, that means less core material and less space for windings as well, which can translate to a hotter-running traffo.

But the one in this ISO looks normal.

Now i'm not sure how capable this is for 350w of power

With the size of those primary caps and output toroid... eh, probably not. With 470 uF, 200V input caps, I'd say the limit is closer to 250-300 Watts tops. The output toroid seems kind of small too, so it probably won't allow for more either. If these two were bigger, the 13009 BJTs on the primary should allow it to do 350 Watts continuous and maybe 400W peak for short periods of time (under a minute.)

the Gun primary caps immediately reminded me of my Winsa PSU, which i suspected at the time was possibly OEMed by CWT (like this PSU), but didn't think CWT would lower their standards to such a level to make such a thing.

Yeah, that Winsa PSU kind of tries to look like a CWT with those green transformers. However, the PCB layout is not something I have seen come out of CWT. So hard to say.

I hope this post is any good

Yessir!
Thanks for sharing your PSU pics with us.

don't think CWT has anything to do with this PoS, likely some fake copy if anything

they make CM6800 based PSUs as the cheapest for way more than a decade now

Nah, Rukycon is correct - this is indeed a CWT PSU. It's just an extremely old platform from the early 2000's, known as the "ISO" line. The TL494 and TPS3510 ICs on the secondary side and the way they are arranged is one of the giveaways. The "Lineplay Pass" sticker on the primary caps is another one. I see that the Winsa PSU has that sticker as well. On a second look, that may be a CWT PSU as well.

Indeed hard to imagine why CWT would make such crap, but you never know. CWT still churns out some cheapo PSUs, so maybe this was an updated replacement for the ISO budget line? Or perhaps an even more stripped down budget PSU meant for 3rd world countries only??

With the large-scale manufacturing of today, though, it's still mind-boggling to try to understand why such POS PSUs are still made.

don't think CWT has anything to do with this PoS, likely some fake copy if anything

they make CM6800 based PSUs as the cheapest for way more than a decade now

Nah, Rukycon is correct - this is indeed a CWT PSU. It's just an extremely old platform from the early 2000's, known as the "ISO" line. The TL494 and TPS3510 ICs on the secondary side and the way they are arranged is one of the giveaways. The "Lineplay Pass" sticker on the primary caps is another one. I see that the Winsa PSU has that sticker as well. On a second look, that may be a CWT PSU as well.

Indeed hard to imagine why CWT would make such crap, but you never know. CWT still churns out some cheapo PSUs, so maybe this was an updated replacement for the ISO budget line? Or perhaps an even more stripped down budget PSU meant for 3rd world countries only??

With the large-scale manufacturing of today, though, it's still mind-boggling to try to understand why such POS PSUs are still made.

Protection? No, we don't have this here

I have noticed several times Linkworld psus with bulging caps and 12V rail going up to even 14V and the psu still working

This is the thing I don't like at all at Linkworld power supplies. But, maybe this is common in many cheap psus, can't tell for sure.

Well, under and over-voltage protections seem to always have been problematic for cheapo PSUs, especially ones based on half-bridge. But I remember reading some bargain basement PSU reviews a while back, and Linkworld PSUs - at least those with their own proprietary ICs - were among the few that would shut down when overloaded (OPP, likely?)

But the good news is that you could replace the part with a proper 30A schottky diode with V reverse of 60V or more

Yup.
But question after that is what will burn next if you try to pull that kind of power? The output toroid and 12V rail snubber already look like they were barely making it by the skin of their teeth. I don't imagine they could take much more.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Some notes i forgot to add to the main post due to time restrictions: The main control IC is a TL494L PWM controller with a TP3510 supervisor IC.
All of the wires are 20AWG, with an exception for the PS-ON wire which is 22AWG.
the two smaller transformers are roughly 30mm tall by 20mm wide.
Based off the date codes on components, this thing was made around early 2011.
I'm not a power supply expert, so i'm unsure what the full capability of this thing is, i will say however that the primary caps seem a bit undersized for 350w.
Anyways that's that and sorry for double posting.

The worst thing here is the output rectifier for 12V rail.

I mean, this thing was made in 2010, 10 years after the Pentium 4 cpus that were the first cpus drawing power from 12V rail.

It should be power heavy on 12V and light on the other rails, not the other way.

But the good news is that you could replace the part with a proper 30A schottky diode with V reverse of 60V or more

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Also, note that while Linkworld may have rated the 12V rail on your PSU at 16A, the rectifier is rated for 20 Amps and the PSU uses half-bridge topology. This means, the secondary rectifier could indeed be pushed up to 20 Amps, if the primary can provide it and secondary doesn't go too out of spec to trip a protection.

Protection? No, we don't have this here

I have noticed several times Linkworld psus with bulging caps and 12V rail going up to even 14V and the psu still working

This is the thing I don't like at all at Linkworld power supplies. But, maybe this is common in many cheap psus, can't tell for sure.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Some notes i forgot to add to the main post due to time restrictions: The main control IC is a TL494L PWM controller with a TP3510 supervisor IC.
All of the wires are 20AWG, with an exception for the PS-ON wire which is 22AWG.
the two smaller transformers are roughly 30mm tall by 20mm wide.
Based off the date codes on components, this thing was made around early 2011.
I'm not a power supply expert, so i'm unsure what the full capability of this thing is, i will say however that the primary caps seem a bit undersized for 350w.
Anyways that's that and sorry for double posting.

Re the input lytics, your instincts are good, I think. 470uF will probably give decent hold-up time for 250W. The heatsinks might be good to 300W. OTOH, AWG #20 wire seems to me more appropriate for 235W-250W. So I'd consider it 250W, capable of significant duration surges to 300W.

[Behemot]

Re: ISO Model: ISO-400 350w PSU

the primary capacitors are two Gun LG 470uf 200V, rater for 85c temp, and with the date codes 1011.

don't think CWT has anything to do with this PoS, likely some fake copy if anything

they make CM6800 based PSUs as the cheapest for way more than a decade now

[RukyCon]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Some notes i forgot to add to the main post due to time restrictions: The main control IC is a TL494L PWM controller with a TP3510 supervisor IC.
All of the wires are 20AWG, with an exception for the PS-ON wire which is 22AWG.
the two smaller transformers are roughly 30mm tall by 20mm wide.
Based off the date codes on components, this thing was made around early 2011.
I'm not a power supply expert, so i'm unsure what the full capability of this thing is, i will say however that the primary caps seem a bit undersized for 350w.
Anyways that's that and sorry for double posting.

[RukyCon]

ISO Model: ISO-400 350w PSU

Hello, I've been wanting to show this PSU for a while, but have not due to a mix of laziness and fear that i would once again make a fool of myself. But excuses aside here is a look inside a NOS ISO PSU.

Label:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...8&d=1593917036
There's not a lot to say here. The UL number points towards Channel Well Technology as the OEM (no surprise there).

Board Overview:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...6&d=1593917036
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...3&d=1593917036
The component layout looks pretty typical, the soldering looks sub-par at best as all of the solder joints look dull and it looks like some of the joints on the secondary side had to be reworked from the factory.

Primary side:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...4&d=1593917036
The input filtering/PFC consists of 3 X2 capacitors (1x 470nf & 2x 100nf), 3 Y2 capacitors (4.7nf), and a single common mode choke.
This power supply has an NTC thermistor but lacks a varistor (so a decent surge can kill this thing).
The bridge rectifier is a PBL405 (Rated 600V, 4A), the primary capacitors are two Gun LG 470uf 200V, rater for 85c temp, and with the date codes 1011.
The 5VSB Mosfet is a C5353 while the main switching transistors are two KSH13009AL's.
The main transformer's size is 36.5mm wide by 45mm tall (i'm guessing this makes it an ERL36).

Secondary side:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...7&d=1593917036
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...9&d=1593917036
The 5VSB rail contains an SB540 diode, a PI coil and two capacitors, one Junfu WG 1000uf 10v before the coil, and one Junfu HK 470uf 10v after the coil.
The 3.3v rail contains an MBR2045CT rectifier, a PI coil, and two Junfu HK 2200uf 6.3v capacitors (one on each side of the coil).
The 5V rail contains an STPS3045CWC rectifier, a fat PI coil, and two Junfu HK 2200uf 10v capacitors in the exact same arrangement as the 3.3v rail (one cap on each side of the coil).
The 12V rail contains a BYQ30D rectifier, a Junfu HK 330uf 16v capacitor, a PI coil, and a Junfu WG 2200uf 16V capacitor.
The -5V rail contains an FR104 diode, a PI coil, and a Junfu HK 220uf 16v capacitor after the PI coil.
The -12V rail contains an FR154(?) (the number isn't fully visible on the diode) a PI coil, and a Junfu HK 220uf 16V capacitor.

The Fan:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...5&d=1593913199
Just your normal Jamicon fan, nothing special.

Now i'm not sure how capable this is for 350w of power, the Gun primary caps immediately reminded me of my Winsa PSU, which i suspected at the time was possibly OEMed by CWT (like this PSU), but didn't think CWT would lower their standards to such a level to make such a thing.
I hope this post is any good (and i hope Badcaps didn't lose the photos again).

[momaka]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Another Enlight 300Watt psu.
...
This is the worst design I have come across though, in terms of 12V cpu support. The voltage regulation is terrible and the psu oscillates heavily when it powers a 12V heavy cpu such as Pentium D.

Hey, that sounds and looks familiar!

I have a TASK TK-930TX that acts similarly with a heavy 12V load (and also not great with a heavy 5V load either.) I posted about it here:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...postcount=2735

I think the OEM is Sirtec, thought not 100% sure anymore. The 3-pin fan, 5VSB circuit arrangement, Teapo and Jenpo output caps, and Teapo LXK input caps I think confirms yours is also made by the same OEM, even though the PSU appears different. Mine also had really good soldering too.

Guess it shows that good quality parts used does not always mean good quality PSU... or at least not a well-designed PSU, anyways. I wonder how many hours yours has on the clock. Maybe it worked all these years, despite the oscillating 12V rail... or maybe the PC it was in was unstable, and as such wasn't used much and kept in storage for a long time??

I really like the fan with the 3 pin header that can be connected to the mb and get RPM readings. The fan is ball bearing or high quality sleeve bearing as I have never met a seized or noisy one.

Yup, I think Sirtec usually uses good quality fans. The TK-930TX came with a Protechnic Magic. Sure that's no Nidec, Panaflo, or Sanyo Denki... but it's still a very decent fan.

Innovator 350W Max (Linkworld)

This is a small factor power supply that has been taken out of a mini pc case.

The fan stopped and the former IT guy, replaced it with another one, but in the end the power supply met its fate and stopped working.

They very poorly decided to put inside the mini PC case an AMD Phenom II X4 965.
Typical TDP: 125 W , this thing gets hot!

The power supply is not gutless, but seems to be designed for older non 12V hungry platforms.

Just look at the label, 16A @ 12V is just not enough for today's standards.

Th input filter on the AC plug has some long uncut leads that make me uncomfortable.

There are burn marks all over the PCB, especially on what appears to be the snubber network of 12V rail.

The area around the group regulation toroid coil got quite toasty too

I was happy to find the psu uses 2x13009 NPN transistors but at the same time, the main transformer is tiny, it's not even an EL33 size. How did this thing manage to power the AMD cpu?

Wow, that is quite amazing that it worked with such a load.
Though, this is not the first time I have seen a gutless Linkworld power a high-end PC and not explode/blow up. I took one out of a Costo pre-build PC many years ago, and it was tasked with powering a Core 2 Quad CPU. Intel claims many of their regular C2Q's are all 95W TDP CPUs, but Intel's idea of TDP is not exactly the same as AMD's. For AMD, TDP rating = maximum power the CPU can draw/dissipate. For Intel, it's an average under high load, of sorts. As such, a fully-stressed C2Q can draw up to 130-150 Watts.

In any case, it's still interesting to see a fairly gutless PSU still power a high-power PC. Quite a contrast from the Sirtec PSUs (which have good parts but can't power jack without oscillating.)

Also, note that while Linkworld may have rated the 12V rail on your PSU at 16A, the rectifier is rated for 20 Amps and the PSU uses half-bridge topology. This means, the secondary rectifier could indeed be pushed up to 20 Amps, if the primary can provide it and secondary doesn't go too out of spec to trip a protection. Or in your case, it appears the overheated snubber RC circuit clearly is indicating the 12V was pushed near it's limit.

Moreover, I'm just not sure how much more power the main transformer could push out. When I saw your first shot of the PSU from above, I could swear the main PS transformer looked like a real ERL35. But then I saw the side pics and... yeah, it ain't no ERL35 for sure . Top-wise, it looks to be the correct size for ERL35. It's the shortness that makes it rather wimpy (i.e. they probably had to put fewer and/or thinner turns of wire for both the primary and secondary in order to squeeze all of the windings in there.)

This is going to be used for parts. Not worth troubleshooting and repairing

Yeah, it's provided a good number of years of useful life already, as PeteS mentioned. Probably doing the right thing to retire it and use it for parts. The 5VSB looks a bit discolored and not very happy, so that's even more of a reason to keep it retired now.

Some stuff got mighty toasty in there!

Looks like the 5VSB (which is fairly typical for Linkworld PSUs with a 2-transistor design, despite not having a critical cap) and also the output toroid inductor.

On that note, I wonder if the position placement of the CM output toroid had anything to do with the overheating (besides running the 125W AMD X4 CPU, lol.) I regularly see Linkworld use these tiny PCBs in all kinds of cases - some with 120 mm overhead fan and some with 80 mm back fan. I wouldn't be surprised if they used this PSU in other cases too. In which case (pun intended ) maybe they top-mounted, downward-blowing 80 mm fan in the mATX PSU case didn't provide enough cooling to the output toroid.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Another Enlight 300Watt psu.

Very old power supply, this was made back in 2002 and still worked. No bulging caps. Even the terrible Jenpo capacitors seem to be ok.

This is the worst design I have come across though, in terms of 12V cpu support. The voltage regulation is terrible and the psu oscillates heavily when it powers a 12V heavy cpu such as Pentium D.

I really like the fan with the 3 pin header that can be connected to the mb and get RPM readings. The fan is ball bearing or high quality sleeve bearing as I have never met a seized or noisy one.

The passive PFC coil uses 4 cables instead of 2 and it is connected right after the bridge rectifier. Not sure how this works.

The soldering is excelent and I found that there is some work from the factory on the back of the PCB, probably to improve the voltage regulation? who knows?

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

The heatsinks and TO-3P 13009s make 300W-350W seem credible. But the 470uF input lytics and outputs inductor are more realistic for 250W, and that main transformer maybe more like 200W. At least you don't have to worry whether the Y-caps are safety agency approved ...

The thing is a mish-mosh of substantial and cheap-out. It's almost 11 years old, so somebody got decent life from it.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Some stuff got mighty toasty in there!

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Innovator 350W Max (Linkworld)

This is a small factor power supply that has been taken out of a mini pc case.

The fan stopped and the former IT guy, replaced it with another one, but in the end the power supply met its fate and stopped working.

They very poorly decided to put inside the mini PC case an AMD Phenom II X4 965.
Typical TDP: 125 W , this thing gets hot!

The power supply is not gutless, but seems to be designed for older non 12V hungry platforms.

Just look at the label, 16A @ 12V is just not enough for today's standards.

Th input filter on the AC plug has some long uncut leads that make me uncomfortable.

There are burn marks all over the PCB, especially on what appears to be the snubber network of 12V rail.

The area around the group regulation toroid coil got quite toasty too

I was happy to find the psu uses 2x13009 NPN transistors but at the same time, the main transformer is tiny, it's not even an EL33 size. How did this thing manage to power the AMD cpu?

The heatsinks are ok for 300W with large surface area and a lot of fins and not ultra thin.

The IC is SD6109 PWM/supervisor combo.

S20C40C @ 3.3V
STPS30S45CW @ 5V
STPS20S100CT @ 12V

The soldering is very good as always with Linkworld.

This is going to be used for parts. Not worth troubleshooting and repairing

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

By power button, do you mean rocker switch on the PSU?

Yeap, that's it. It was the version with the light bulb inside:
https://grobotronics.com/images/thum...switch_red.jpg

Switching from ON to OFF or OFF to ON didn't "click" anymore and it would loose contact from the computer's vibrations.

After removing it from the psu I tore it apart but couldn't find out much.

o.0
I wonder if this is why we haven't seen you for a while here.

That was back in 2013. Serving the army is not voluntary here, in Greece. Every male has to go.

It has to do with the problems we have with Turkey, that have been ongoing for more than a hundred years, unfortunately.

[momaka]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial. part 2

Seems like a pretty solidly built unit for 300W, just has cheap caps, a cheap fan controller, an oversight in heatsinking and airflow, and cheap caps. With some simple modifications, this could be a pretty strong 300W PSU.

Yup, I started a thread about it here:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=85301
Already recapped unit #1 posted above and it's working well. Unit #2 is operational but needs its output toroid re-wound.

Got this power supply from work. The power button failed.

It was the type with the red light to indicate that the psu is powered.

This psu was in storage and as it seems it was sitting on the button. That may have caused the problem.

The button would turn to ON but during computer operation it would suddenly loose contact and the psu turn off.

I replaced the button with an ordinary black one without a light, taken from a gutless psu.

By power button, do you mean rocker switch on the PSU?

I've only seen cheap or extensively used rocker switches fail. Typically the rocking spring inside gets loose, and then the contacts no longer make good connections. That said, I have fixed a few cheap rocker switches by taking them apart and bending / re-tensioning the contact springs. Don't know how long those fixes held, though, because the person that asked me to do it now lives far away and I really lost contact with them, so I have no idea. But hey, it was a free fix (in exchange for junk PC parts), after all!

Chieftec GPS-500AB

Delta Electronics is the OEM.

Ha! As soon as I saw the Delta fan, I had a feeling this would be a Delta-built PSU.

Nicely done, indeed. It will do its rated power, I'm sure (if not more, like you said.)

Not entirely excited about the Ltec caps, and the unit may need a recap in the future. The Samxon primary might be alright, though, since it is rated for 450V and not just 400V. In PSUs with APFC, I think 400V -rated input caps are cutting it too close to the limit, and that's why more of those fail (and this seems to be regardless of cap brand.)

I have posted this model again while I was serving in the army.

o.0
I wonder if this is why we haven't seen you for a while here.